# 2838a - 1994 29c WWII: Allied Forces Retake New Guinea

U.S. #2838a
1994 Allied Forces Retake New Guinea, 1944 – World War II

• Part of the fourth souvenir sheet issued to commemorate the 50^th anniversary of World War II
• Sheet includes 10 stamps plus a world map

Stamp Category:  Commemorative
Series:  World War II
Value: 29¢ (Individual stamps), First Class Mail Rate
First Day of Issue:  June 6, 1994
First Day City:  Two main ceremonies in Washington, DC and  St. Mere Egilse, Normandy, with additional smaller events in:  Fort Dix, New Jersey; Salt Lake City, Utah; New York, New York; Clarksville, Tennessee; Fort Sam Houston, Lubbock, San Antonio, and Houston, Texas; Bangor, Maine; Charleston, South Carolina; Virginia Beach and Richmond, Virginia; and Fort Campbell, Kentucky
Quantity Issued (if known):  120,600,000
Printed by:  Bureau of Engraving and Printing
Printing Method:  Offset, Intaglio
Format:  Sheetlets of 10 (arranged in 2 strips of 5, one across the top and one across the bottom of the sheetlet, with world map in between)
Perforations:  11.1 (Eureka off-line perforator)
Tagging:  Overall, large block covering stamps and part of selvage

Why the stamp was issued:  This souvenir sheet was issued to commemorate the 50^th anniversary of World War II.  It was the fourth in a series of five that were issued over the course of five years.

About the stamp design:  Shows a line of soldiers walking through thick jungle.  William Bond based is acrylic painting on reference photos of marching soldiers.  He also looked at a painting of soldiers moving through jungle by Kerr Eby, an artist and former war correspondent who served with the Marines in the South Pacific from 1943-44.

First Day City:  The stamps were dedicated in two ceremonies on June 6^th:  one at the National Postal Museum in Washington, DC, and one in the town of St. Mere Egilse in Normandy.  First Day of Issue postmarks read “USS Normandy.”  Thirteen additional cities held events for the stamps’ First Day of Issue and offered pictorial cancellations. 

The ceremony at Lubbock Texas, was special as it was the same city in which World War II pilots were given glider training at the old South Plains Army Air Field.  One of those pilots was Werner Birkelbach, who flew an antitank gun and four soldiers to Normandy before dawn on D-Day.  Fifty years later, on the World War II stamps’ First Day of Issue, Birkelbach flew a modern sailplane 35 miles from Littlefield, Texas, to Lubbock to deliver cacheted covers bearing the new stamps.  They were all given First Day of Issue postmarks at the end of the trip.

Pre-First Day Usage:  Linn’s Stamp News found that a “P-51s escort B-17s” stamp was used on cover postmarked Rock Hill, New York, on June 3^rd, three days before the stamps were officially issued.  This was the earliest known usage of the one of the World War II stamps.

About the World War II Series:  As the 50^th anniversary of World War II was approaching, the US Postal Service wanted a series that would recognize the key events of the war and the important contributions America made to the Allied victory.  Rather than issue a large number of stamps, the USPS decided to create five sheetlets, each commemorating one year of America’s involvement in the war.  Each sheetlet had 10 different stamps arranged in two horizontal strips of 5.  In the center was a world map with Allied and neutral nations in yellow and Axis-controlled areas in red.  Notes on the map highlighted key developments that occurred that year.  The stamps each featured important events that took place during the year, as well.

History the stamp represents:  By the summer of 1942, Japanese troops had made a series of landings on New Guinea’s north shore and were steadily pushing inland.  The only barrier separating them from the Australian base of Port Moresby was the Owen Stanley Mountains – a jagged, jungle-covered range that reared up two miles high.  Although the Australians considered the mountains impassable, the tenacious Japanese troops succeeded in crossing.

An Allied force quickly counterattacked and by November, the Japanese had been pushed back across the mountains.  MacArthur then attacked Japanese positions along the north coast in a series of brilliant operations that combined sea, air, and land forces.  But New Guinea is the world’s second largest island, and the drive to recapture it would require nearly two more years of brutal fighting.

Moving westward up the northern coast, American forces took Saidor on January 2, 1944, and established an air base there.  Two weeks later, Australian troops took Sio.  Additional airfields were captured and by the end of April the Japanese had begun to retreat.  By August, nearly all of New Guinea was in Allied hands, leaving MacArthur free to drive on toward the Philippines.